Two female bombers die in Cameroon

Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on Monday in the Far North region of Cameroon while trying to carry out attacks for Boko Haram sect, local officials said, but there were no other deaths.

“The suicide bombing took place at the entrance of Bodo. Two women bombers wanted to get to the market place but they were stopped by vigilantes,” Abgassi Adoum, mayor of Makary district of which Bodo is a part, told Reuters.

He said one member of the watch committee was lightly wounded.

Another bomber died and two people were wounded in a separate incident on Saturday in Tolkomari village in the Kolofata neighbourhood, a local official said.

Boko Haram has waged a six-year campaign for an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria. Neighbouring countries joined an offensive against the group this year and the conflict spilled across their borders, displacing tens of thousands of people.

Cameroon is also in an 8,700-strong regional force led by Nigeria against the militants, expected to be operational by the end of the year. The United States is sending military supplies and troops to the central African country to aid the fight.